


Stitched || Kakuzu

by FallenAmor



Series: Stitched [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26943751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallenAmor/pseuds/FallenAmor
Summary: S-rank criminal, meet a civilian who has no idea who you are. Kakuzu already has a hard enough time trying to deal with his partner, Hidan. When a civilian girl, Nozomi, gets in the way and asks for his assistance, he can deal with the bounty, but can he deal with her? That's not even the worst part.© Copyright 2014-2019. FallenAmorDisclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the character or the tv show, movies, or anything associated to it. I just own my character and my story line.
Relationships: Kakuzu (Naruto)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Stitched [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1966141
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. The Great Idea

His eyebrow twitched as he looked down at her. "Why are you so close to me?"

She stared back up at his oddly colored eyes and bit her lip, trying to pull away from him. She winced as she tried a little harder to pull her left wrist away from his right one.

". . . I'm stuck."

This isn't how it started. There's much more to the story that happened before this point. Taking it back, it all started a couple of days ago.

Her name is Nozomi Shidou and she's almost twenty-two. She'd lived in the Hidden Leaf Village for the first five years of her life, since the day her mother gave birth to her. When she was almost six years old, Kurama, the nine tails, attacked the village and killed her mother by stepping on her as she pushed her daughter out of the way and to safety.

Since then, Nozomi's father moved himself, her brother, and her to the Hidden Mist Village where her brother trained and became a hunter-nin in the ANBU. Whenever he came home from a mission, he would teach his sister basic jutsu and fighting skills so when he's out, she could defend herself. She never could become a ninja because her chakra capacity was too low.

Their father left on a trip and never came back, leaving she and her brother to take care of themselves for the last three years. Last year, her brother was sent out with a group of ANBU to hunt down Orochimaru of the Akatsuki.

The woman sat in her house, making dinner as she hummed lightly to herself. A knock on the door sounded and she finished the rice before heading to the door. She grinned from ear to ear as a familiar man stepped in and wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

"Welcome home, Hideki."

He grinned as she hugged him back. "Did you get taller, Mimi?"

"Ah..." Nozomi looked up at her brother and wrinkled her nose in thought. He only laughed and pet her head before going upstairs. Realizing he was joking with her, she pouted and went back to making dinner. 

Over dinner, they talked almost the entire time, barely touching their food. Hideki told his sister funny stories about the mission without giving out too much information. As they shared memories and laughed to their hearts content, eventually the good times came to an end and the conversation became serious.

"Did you ever see him?"

Hideki looked at his sister's face which showed signs of hope and sighed, shaking his face. Her face felt and she looked down at her half-eaten food. He stood up and sucked in a breath, contemplating whether he should have told her yes instead.

"Nozomi."

Nozomi looked up at her brother, wiping at her eyes. Her father had been missing for three years now. He had told her that he needed to go on a business trip and set off to Kumogakure, never coming back.

"Dad's using you to reincarnate Mom."

The woman paused for a mom, then burst out laughing at her brother's statement and wiped a tear from her eye. "You're funny, Hideki. Dad's not a ninja anymore and you can't bring back the dead."

"I'm not joking." Hideki snapped at her, causing Nozomi to stop laughing. Her brother was actually serious. "I shouldn't be telling you this because it's top secret information. While my team was in Kumogakure, I was called out after dark for my watch shift. It was Dad in disguise and he's serious in using you to get Mom back."

Sure, she and her father weren't on the best terms since her mother's death but she never thought he would escalate it that far. Her eyes widen and she looked up at her brother, worried.

"I can't do that! You have to help me, Hideki!"

Hideki sighed and looked away from her. "I have a mandatory mission tomorrow that I have to go on. I don't know when Dad will come get you, but don't trust him okay. I'm sure your friends will be able to help you for now until I get back."

With that, her brother went upstairs to get ready for tomorrow, leaving his sister to tend to herself and clean up. She dropped the plate on the floor and it shattered as she tried to hold herself together. Her father was trying to kill her to bring back his wife - her mother? How was that even possible? But when it came to serious situations, her brother never lied to her.

That night, she couldn't fall asleep as she curled up with her pillow pressed tightly against her chest. What was she going to do? She didn't have that many friends and the ones she did have her ninja, having been able to attend when she couldn't.

An idea popped up into her head and she sat up. If her father came, maybe she'd be able to fend him off. Her brother had taught her basic ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. Mentally slapping herself, she sighed. Her father used to be a ninja. There's no way she can be that stupid as to think she had a chance when her skills weren't even close to being genin level.

The next morning, her brother left bright and early and she went to see him off. After he disappeared, Nozomi came back to the empty house and a wave of fear came over her. What if he was in there now, just waiting for her to open the door? Picking up a stick from the ground, she edged over to the house and opened the door cautiously, peeking in. Deeming it safe, she closed the door behind her and looked around the small house before sighing.

This was ridiculous. She knew she was beyond paranoid. Suddenly, another idea popped in her head and she smiled to herself. Running upstairs to her brother's room, she looked around his closet and drawers before finding what she wanted - his emergency pouch with a few kunai and shuriken, some medical supplies, and an escape scroll.

Pulling one of her brother's pants out of his closet, she cut it up and tailored it so it became easy, movable shorts. The bandage on her right leg from being burned by oil was still there and she let it be. Putting on her sandals and a plain t-shirt, she placed the emergency pouch securely around her waist and looked in the mirror. A pair of scissors went up and hair came down as her sandy blond hair went from waist-length to shoulder-length in a matter of minutes. Finishing the outfit with a black cloak, she locked the house and left the key under the mat with the spare for when Hideki came back.

She knew exactly what she was going to do. From now on, she'd just have to deal with the matters herself.


	2. Meeting The Hunter

Nozomi had been on a ship for the longest time as she looked out at the endless sea, wondering if she was even going to see land ever again. The captain had promised her that the journey wouldn't take that long to go on. She was pretty sure Kumogakure was not that far from Kirigakure. Just across the water, right?

After a while, Nozomi finally believed that they were getting somewhere as she saw land in the distance. Grinning, she sighed with relief, finding that the captain was right and she was just getting a little impatient. A small tug on the end of her black cloak ripped her from her thoughts as she turned her head to look down at a small boy who pouted, clutching a small blanket to his chest.

Nozomi smiled and crouched down, pulling her hood off her head. She'd always been a sucker for children. Unlucky for her, the kids in Kirigakure figured that out and had seemed to have her wrapped around their little chubby fingers.

"Onee-chan... Can you help me?"

Aw, she cooed inside her head. This boy was just too adorable with his bottom lip all stuck out and his big brown eyes. If looks could kill, she'd be a goner. Nodding, Nozomi smiled at the small child.

"Of course. You can call me Mimi. What do you need help with?"

"Can you play hide-and-go-seek with us, Mimi-chan?" He grinned, looking over at a group of other children around his age. How old were they? About four or five?

Nozomi glanced back at where the land was and figured it would be about thirty to forty minutes until they'd actually arrive at the dock, so she smiled and nodded, telling the children she would count. In the back of her head, she couldn't help but wonder why they asked her of all people and how she didn't notice them up here before. The crew seemed to be meeting with the captain, so Nozomi took it upon herself to keep the children occupied.

The children giggled and spread out as she counted softly to herself. When she turned back around and opened her eyes, they were all no where to be seen. Nozomi sighed and started to search for them. Most of them were fairly easy to find, considering that they would be in the easiest places like behind boxes and under blankets that covered the hay when there was high wind. However, the small boy was no where to be found.

"Do you know where he went?"

The other children shook their heads and ran away, going to find him. Nozomi continued to search, checking the lower decks for any sightings. A chill ran up her spine as she looked around barrels of food and gun powder. Passengers weren't allowed down here but the woman took the risk just in case.

Suddenly, a hand reached out and touched the woman, causing her to jump and nearly scream. When she turned around though, no one was there. She frowned and pulled her hood back on. As she headed up to the top deck again, she saw a glimpse of someone in a cloak walk off.

Nozomi ran up the stairs and looked around, trying to see who exactly had touched her. The person in the cloak however was no where to be found. As soon as Nozomi had given up hope on finding the mystery person, she spotted the edge of a black cloth. Deeming it the black cloak, she raced around the corner to see two men.

"A-ah..."

The cloak was not all black. It had red outlined white clouds all over it. As she looked up, she couldn't really see their faces due to the straw hats on their heads, but she noticed one of their skin colors was blue.

"Are you lost?" One of them spoke. Nozomi turned her attention to the male - the one with the normal skin color. She could barely see his eyes, but two diagonal lines streamed down the inside of his cheeks, from what she could tell. Realizing she had been staring for a little bit, she blushed with embarassment and stepped back from them.

"I, uh.. Did you see someone with a black cloak run past here? Just plain black?" She asked. The two shook their heads. Frowning in disappointment, she sighed.

"Well, who are you?"

Before the blue skinned male could reply, his partner answered first. "Why do you need to know?"

"I should be able to thank you properly, even though you weren't of help."

"That's not necessary. You should leave now."

Before Nozomi could respond, the captain announced that they had reached land and would be unboarding soon. Nozomi had turned her attention away from the males for too long, so when she had turned around again, they had vanished.

Once she had gotten off the boat, Nozomi looked around for the two males once more, only to find nothing come up. She sighed with defeat until she noticed all the people walk off - but there were no children.

But... She was just playing hide-and-go-seek with them not too long ago. What was going on?

Shaking her head, Nozomi decided not to investigate it and leave the docking area. Kumogakure was way bigger than Kirigakure and what she had imaged. The great stone buildings that looked like they were reaching into the clouds looked marvelous. But Nozomi wasn't here to sight see, she was on a self-appointed mission.

Deep into the forest by the huge village was that of a market place. Tiny shops were set up that held fruits, food in general, maps... Anything travelers would need on their voyage. But there were no little children to run around and play here. That was because, this was the Black Market.

Men and women alike stood with Bingo books glued to their faces. They would ask shopkeepers to name their price on any information they could receive, then bargain it later.  
Nozomi looked around, wondering which bounty hunter she could confide in for her conquest. Finally, after walking around a bit, one caught her eye.

"Eh? Another high-paying what? You cleaned them all out, you savage!" A shopkeeper grumbled. "I don't have anymore information for you. Unless you're willing to pay more money."

There was a man that stood by him who was talking to him. He had a mask covering most of his face and his eyes were very odd. Nozomi was pretty sure she had never seen someone with red eyes and green, pupil-less irides. They looked so peculiar, yet interesting.

At that moment, Nozomi decided she found her man. The male who would be able to perform her task for her. She took a chance and ran up to him. He disregarded her until she jumped in his field of vision.

"Excuse me sir. I need your help to do something."

The tanned male merely brushed her off without a thought before hearing her last sentence.

"I'll pay you."


	3. Beggars Can't Be Choosers

Nozomi shifted her weight from foot to foot as she looked up at the man in front of her. Yes, she was very intimidated by this man, but he was the one she chose to carry out her plan. All that mattered was whether he agreed or not.

"I want ¥35,000,000." (about $320,000 in U.S.)

Her mouth nearly dropped at the price as she didn't even have that much stored in savings.

The male next to him, however, was furious. He was watching Nozomi's every move with narrowed eyes as he nursed the wound he got from a blow to his head. The triple-bladed scythe in his hand was more than enough to warn Nozomi not to cross him.

This wasn't how it all started. It took Nozomi a while to even get him to name any type of price for the bounty. Rewinding back a few days to the start of the problem.

"I'll pay you."

The male turned around and looked at the woman in front of him. She was petite - her height barely came up to his shoulders. She had shoulder-length sandy blond hair that made it obvious that she had done it herself and that it was her first time cutting hair. Her blue eyes stared him down but showed determination and fear.

"Who are you?"

"Nozomi Shidou."

Nozomi took in a deep breath softly as she watched him stare her down. It was very uncomfortable for her. His facial features showed nothing she could decifer and that mask was getting in the way. Was he hiding something behind that?

"And you are?"

Her face twisted into a small frown. He was blunt. He was actually quite rude too. She crossed her arms and straightened her form out, as her father had told her. Don't let anyone see that they can take advantage of you. If they can see it, they will do it.

"I am a customer in need of your help. I realize you are a bounty hunter and I'm asking for your services. I feel that you are capable for this job."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow at her comment. He had met her standards? Judging by her appearance, she seemed to be in her early twenties, but highly oblivious. The other people in this black market had kept their distance from the male, but she walked straight up to him.

The male turned away and left her alone in the black market. Shocked by his sudden lack of interest, Nozomi ran after him.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

He stopped for a moment and glanced back at her. No sooner had he glanced, he disappeared.

Day 1  
Nozomi stayed at a small inn in Kumogakure. She woke up and sat up on the futon, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her short blond hair was a mess as she folded the futon and put it away. Today was the day. She was going to make that bounty hunter hers.

She took a quick shower and threw on her clothes before thanking the landlady and leaving. Nozomi's first place to visit was the Black Market. Like before, it was bustling with people everywhere. She pulled her hood on and walked up to a small vendor for food.

After her small breakfast of two apples, Nozomi looked around everywhere for the male she had seen before. Hours went by of her aimlessly walking around and she sighed. Where exactly was this man? He couldn't have left just yet.

Suddenly, yelling started up and Nozomi looked down the lane. It was just her luck! At the same booth from before, Kakuzu was being yelled at by the shopkeeper about information once again. This time, he was arguing back though.

"I refuse unless you give me more money, you brute!"

"That's not necessary for something so little."

Nozomi walked over and greeted the shopkeeper kindly before turning to Kakuzu. Unlike the male, the shopkeeper was very happy to have her interrupt and tended to other business.

"Do you have an answer to my offer, sir?"

Kakuzu merely stared down at her with his ever-changing eyes. That was an exaggeration to Nozomi, considering that to her, the male was as stoic as can be. He turned on his heel and walked away from her once again, but Nozomi wasn't going to let this oppurtunity pass her by.

"I'll give you ¥25,000,000!"

The male paused for a moment. It seemed like he was about to give it thought, but he soon disappeared. Nozomi groaned in defeat.

Day 2  
Nozomi woke up the next day, having gone back to the same inn. She sighed softly, seeing as she didn't want to waste a lot of money and not have anymore to offer the bounty hunter. That meant, less moping around and more searching for that man.

She went back to the Black Market in hopes to find hime arguing with the shopkeeper again. That, however, didn't happen at all. When she asked the shopkeeper, he treated her like one of the bounty hunters and demanded money from her. Wonderful.

Nozomi wandered around Kumogakure with a sigh. If he wasn't at the Black Market, where else would he be? What if he left and she might never find him again?! Whining softly, she retreated to the outskirts of Kumo and walked through a small forest-like place.

Her luck must have been carrying on since she spotted the male sitting by a tree stump, reading the bingo book. Her heart skipped a beat happily as she found hope again. Maybe this time he'll accept her offer.

She approached him cautiously, knowing that bounty hunters are somewhat ninjas and they will attack if you approach the wrong way. She held a third apple, one she had saved from breakfast, and hoped maybe he was hungry.

"S-Sir...?"

"What the fuck?!"

Nozomi jumped and her skin crawled as she heard another voice. Kakuzu looked up from the book at her then glanced to the side. She decided to follow suit and looked out the corner of her eyes. 

There was a male whose body was black and white all over, wearing the same cloak as the bounty hunter - black with red clouds. The skin color pattern was weird, like a skeleton, and he stood on a symbol on the ground of a circle with a triangle inside. Blood oozed out of his chest as he pulled a triple-bladed scythe from it. Nozomi nearly fainted at the sight as she paled noticeably.

"Who's the bitch, Kakuzu?"

Oh, so his name was Kakuzu. Nozomi looked at Kakuzu who hadn't moved from his position, nor was he phased by the male's speech or physical condition.

"Y-You're bleeding!" That was all Nozomi could stutter out.

"Are you done, Hidan?"

"Can I kill her? She looks pure and untainted. Fuck, she's the perfect sacrifice to Jashin-sama."

Nozomi's eyes widened and she backed away from Hidan, edging closer to Kakuzu. That wasn't really going to happen to her right? Kakuzu wasn't going to allow him to kill her... She was offering him money to do a bounty for her. That would be enough just to spare her life for now, right?

"I-I really need your services, Kakuzu-san. If you'll allow me to call you that. I'll raise the price to ¥27,000,000. Please, help me?"

Kakuzu stared up at the woman. His face remained unchanged. He got up and left her again. Hidan scowled at the woman and followed Kakuzu, leaving her alone again.

Day 3  
Nozomi couldn't understand it. What could possibly make Kakuzu not want the money? It was basically her entire life's savings, plus a few of her personal items that she sold. That was a lot of money for a bounty. She could only raise the price but so high.

That next morning, she prepared herself mentally and physically. This time, he was not going to refuse her. She left the inn, telling the landlady that she wasn't coming back this time and thanking her for her services.

She marched back up to the forest with clear determination and searched for Kakuzu. He shouldn't have been that hard to find. Although, he was taller than her and she'd have to look up everytime. The more she thought about it, the more her determination started to falter. The man was scary as hell!

Looking around a tree, she spotting not the male she was looking for, but his partner. Hidan was practicing with his scythe, swinging it around and training hard. Nozomi thought of how scary he was last time and decided against trying to ask him anything. But it was too late to back off now since he sensed her and spotted her watching him.  
With nothing to hold Hidan back, he smirked and lunged for Nozomi. He'd prayed to Jashin for permission to kill that morning and believed this was his god rewarding him for a good harvest the other day.

Nozomi screamed and automatically started to run away. Surely, her first instinct should've been to grab a kunai from the emergency pouch on her side in case that scythe made its way anywhere near her body, but she wasn't a ninja. She was just a lowly civilian.

Yes, her brother had taught her basic jutsu like substitution. She had low chakra levels, so that wouldn't have worked out so much for her if she had to use it multiple times. This was her first time engaging in any kind of battle so all self-defense techniques completely left her mind.

Nozomi ducked and hid behind trees, being as evasive as possible to leave Hidan. This annoyed the crap out of the criminal since he was only set on one thing. She pretty quickly had no where to go and stared at Hidan with fearful eyes. This was it. She was going to die earlier than planned now. So, she covered her face with her hands and braced for the oncoming pain.

Instead, she heard a loud groan followed by a string of curses. Nozomi peeked out and put her hands down to see Kakuzu glaring at Hidan, who was glaring straight back at him. The woman hoped it was safe to assume that Kakuzu had saved her.

Nozomi shifted her weight from foot to foot as she looked up at the man in front of her. Yes, she was very intimidated by this man, but he was the one she chose to carry out her plan. All that mattered was whether he agreed or not.

"I want ¥35,000,000." 

Her mouth nearly dropped at the price as she didn't even have that much stored in savings.

The male next to him, however, was furious. He was watching Nozomi's every move with narrowed eyes as he nursed the wound he got from a blow to his head. The triple-bladed scythe in his hand was more than enough to warn Nozomi not to cross him.

"Y-You want... how much?"

In the distance, sitting on a high branch was a male in a black cloak, watching their every move.


	4. Well, Now It's A Date With A Third Wheel

"¥35,000,000."

"I-I..." Nozomi choked over her words. She barely had enough for that since she'd spent some money on inn fees. If she told she didn't have that, he'd probably kill her on the spot.

It was her fault. It was her fault that she was in this mess. Getting on that boat, coming to Kumogakure, and now meeting this deadly, but mysterious man and his creepy partner. And somehow she was just going to agree to follow them and trust that they won't kill her and take her money.

Nozomi made a small sigh, before nodding. "Of course. I'll pay you ¥35,000,000 at the end of your services."

Hidan looked down at the small blond with a glare and turned away, leaving the site. He couldn't believe that on the small break he and Kakuzu had, his "harsh" partner was going to help this small nobody out for the money as always.

"We leave tomorrow morning at dawn."

With that said, the male disappeared. Nozomi stood there for a moment before sighing. A bounty hunter was willing to help her out (for the reward of course) but his partner was even more willing to kill her. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

The next morning, Nozomi was awake and ready to go, having been able to get all the sleep she could. She stood outside the outskirts of Kumogakure, her cloak covering her body. She fiddled with the ends of her shoulder-length hair and rocked on her heels.

Something pulled her to the side into the forest and covered her mouth so no one would hear her scream. Once they let her go, Nozomi tried to put her heart back in her chest and calm down. She turned to her captor with a glare.

"You truly have no survival skills, do you?"

Nozomi was appalled by the question as she looked up at Kakuzu. "Yes I do! I have basic genin skills! I can take care of myself."

"Keep your voice down. Let's go." The male simply ignored her and started walking. Nozomi glared at the back of his head but didn't dare say anything as she walked with him. As they walked, the female noticed it would've been pretty easy to ignore Kakuzu's partner, if he hadn't been giving off the aura of complete and utter hatred.

"Who is the person and where are they?"

The blond turned her attention away from Hidan and looked at Kakuzu. "Um... that person is my father and the last time he was seen was in Kumogakure. But he's alive, I know that."

"How do you know he's alive?" Hidan crossed his arms. "You have my stupid partner helping you because you believe your fucking father is alive and well when you haven't see his ass since when?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you." Nozomi snapped at him. "My brother saw him a few days ago. That's proof enough. I'm not hiring you for this job, I hired Kakuzu-san."

Hidan nearly lunged before her in rage and Nozomi quickly moved away from him, apologizing quietly. If she wanted to live, it'd be best not to get on the bad side of the crazy man with the huge weapon.

"Shut up." Kakuzu told them both. "Where was he seen?"

"Outside Kumogakure."

"Then let's move."

For the next couple of the days, the small group traveled westwards with little breaks for resting. Kakuzu, who insisted time was money, refused for them to rest. Nozomi struggled to keep up, not used to this kind of schedule. She slept whenever she could and found food for when she needed to eat since the other two didn't need that to survive.  
The more westward they went, the colder it got. They reached Shimogakure, the Land of Frost. Nozomi hugged her cloak to her body to keep warm as she only had shorts and a t-shirt on under it.

"C-Can we stop so I can get some pants, please? I'm really cold.." She shivered as she walked behind the two.

Kakuzu didn't even stop walking to acknowledge her. "No."

"P-Please?" She whined. With the amount of money she was giving this man, he could at least be a litte less rude and possibly a little more understanding. She wasn't a ninja. She didn't know how to bare these kinds of climates without things normal people would wear.

"No."

She frowned and begrudingly walked after him. After a while, it started snowing and she whined again. "Can we stay the night somewhere please?"

"Can you shut the fuck up already?" Hidan turned and glared at her.

Nozomi sighed in defeat and rubbed her arms, praying to the gods that she wouldn't freeze to death. A few more horribly slow hours and they finally reached a spot where you could see a nearby small village. Nozomi nearly jumped for joy at the sight of just lights - which was enough to signal warmth to her.

In the midst of leaving the spot to head through the village, the snow fall started to get heavier - nearing a blizzard stage. The three trudged through the growing snow, Nozomi's body nearly freezing over as she was certain she could not feel her toes anymore in her sandals.

Ninjas popped up out of the trees, one hundred of them, and surrounded the group. Out of no where, they lunged to attack. Hidan immediately went into attack mode, raising his scythe and going on a killing spree. Kakuzu stood back and watched Hidan annihilate the men. Nozomi ran and stood by Kakuzu, not seeing anything she could do.

A single ninja jumped down in from of the two. a black cloak covering his body and a mask covering his face. The mask had a peculiar design - fitting the description of a hunter nin's mask, without a village insignia. While Hidan faced the now depleting group of ninjas on his side of the hill, Kakuzu faced the masked ninja. They battled it out, mostly using taijutsu as it looked like neither deemed it necessary at that point to go into more complicated jutsus and movements. 

The mysetrious ninja however grabbed the right wrist of Kakuzu and got a whole of his stitching while they were engaged in hand-to-hand combat and easily grabbed a hold of Nozomi's left wrist and put them together before forming a jutsu. Hidan, who had seen, went after the male, blinded in a sense for blood after having killed all one hundred ninja. The masked figure sensed this and after completing his jutsu, disappeared in a flurry of smoke.

The snow continued to fall as Hidan scowered the area. He found no sign of the mystery ninja and put his scythe back, yawning. "Damn fucker. He got away."

Kakuzu looked at Nozomi and noticed how attached she was to his side. He was not a 'people' person at all. His eyebrow twitched as he looked down at her. "Why are you so close to me?"

She stared back up at his oddly colored eyes and bit her lip, trying to pull away from him. She winced as she tried a little harder to pull her left wrist away from his right one.

". . . I'm stuck."


	5. Stitched

Nozomi winced as she tried to pull away from Kakuzu again, but again her attempts were in futile. She wondered what was going to happen next now.

"You're stuck?" Kakuzu looked down at her. He pulled up their arms, which caused Nozomi to whine in pain. She wasn't suffering alone as he also felt some pain. Their wrists were most definitely attached; three of his stitches were pulled from his body and intricately wrapped around Nozomi's wrist. The ends of the stitches were actually inside Nozomi's body, tied around her radius bone.

The Akatsuki member narrowed his eyes at the scene as his partner sauntered over after his sacrifice ritual. It was because he had allowed the unknown ninja close enough to attach chakra strings that this happened. Assessing that hand-to-hand combat wouldn't be possible anymore, now knowing of this trick and this new weight on his side, Kakuzu sighed inwardly.

Hidan raised an eyebrow at Nozomi and Kakuzu, but didn't say a word as he noticed his partner's agitated face. Without much of anything to say, Kakuzu started ahead again, dragging Nozomi along. The poor girl struggled to keep up with him, trying to ignore the throbbing pain of her wrist and not whine so much, in case her bounty hunter do something to her.

Hidan finally spoke up after deafening silence for a while. They'd passed by a couple of villages and Kakuzu had finally slowed a little bit so Nozomi could walk next to him. "So, what's going on? You two haven't left each other's side since we left that cliff."

Nozomi looked at the ground, biting her lip, as Kakuzu held their wrists up again. The pain was still great, but she'd gotten used to moving enough to keep quiet. Kakuzu held their wrists up for a split second before putting them down.

"You've seen."

Hidan turned his attention to Nozomi, who was staring back at him.

"You must be bold, bitch. To put yourself in a situation like this." Hidan rolled his eyes. "Can't you cut it off or something? That's useless shit you're walking around with."

"I am not useless shit!"

"Oh, the little lady has a pottymouth."

"Hypocrite!"

Kakuzu's eyes twitched at their bickering and he yanked Nozomi along, starting to walk again. Nozomi cried out in pain and stumbled after him.

"You're going to dislocate my bone, you brute!" Nozomi yelled at him. 

The male turned around and looked at her. Nozomi looked him back in the eyes, glaring at him. The Akatsuki member grunted softly; she was bold. She's been around them too long and she's getting used to it.

"Would you rather I rip the stitchings out completely and let you bleed out and die?"

"Then you wouldn't get paid."

Kakuzu continued to look at her before starting to walk again. That was how she planned on having control in the situation? Money? He decided to let that go at the moment, being that he did want the money but he has another purpose to the situation.

"So now we're really helping her?" Hidan asked, crossing his arms. He'd been against this plan since day one and with this turn of events, now it was really going to happen?

The trio continued on until they left the Land of Frost and entered the Land of Hot Water. There was a small village on the border of the two countries that they entered into. There wasn't that many people or buildings, so the three quickly found an inn.

"One room." Kakuzu said to the woman in charge. The lady glanced up and looked at Kakuzu, then Nozomi, and then at Hidan. Although she wanted to say something, she didn't and merely nodded.

"For three people, ¥18000."

Kakuzu looked at Nozomi. She looked back at him, tilting her head. "What?"

"Pay."

"Pay for what?"

"The room."

Nozomi looked at the woman in charge who was patiently waiting to receive payment. She sighing, grumbling to herself as she used her free hand to open her small pouch. Moving her other hand carefully, she stayed close to Kakuzu as she counted the money and handed it to the lady. After telling them where the room was, the trio proceeded on with the woman watching after them until they walked inside the room and closed the door.

"I don't want to stay in here with you two." Nozomi fumed. "What if you two...? I-I'm still innocent and..."

Hidan rolled his eyes. "I'm going to sleep." He sat down in the corner, placing his scythe against the wall, and folded his arms over his chest, closing his eyes.

Nozomi, not convinced, glanced over at Kakuzu, who was sitting on the floor. He pulled her down so she was sitting as well.

"Go to sleep. We're leaving in the morning."

She shook her head defiantly. "No. I don't trust you."

"You shouldn't. Go to sleep."

Nozomi stared at the male beside her. Obviously, he made his point clear. Reluctantly, she laid down and used the complimentary blanket in the room. "Aren't you going to go to sleep?"

Kakuzu didn't respond and she kept quiet, closing her eyes as she did feel really tired. The pain in her wrist had gone away for now since they weren't moving, so she felt she could rest easy for a little bit. As she was about to fall asleep, Kakuzu asked her a question.

"You said you had a brother?"

Nozomi yawned and snuggled up in the blanket. "Hideki Shidou. He's a really nice guy and a great ninja. He taught me some simple things. He's great at hand to hand combat and he's a hunter ninja... He... He looks like me... The blond hair and blue eyes, but he's taller..." She yawned again before quieting down and falling asleep.

Kakuzu stayed up and looked outside. The ninja they encountered. He was good at hand-to-hand combat... as Kakuzu had let him too close. From the glimpse of it, he was taller than the runt sleeping next to him. A hunter ninja... The mask the male was wearing a hunter ninja mask - but it had no village insignia. It couldn't be proven yet, but Kakuzu had a good idea.

As the male looked outside into the forest, he narrowed his eyes as the glimpse of something moving. As he looked into it more, whatever was watching must have seen him as it moved away. Kakuzu stood up and Nozomi immediately woke up at his movements. She was about to say something when Kakuzu covered her mouth. 

Walking over with her, he opened the door and led her outside. Hidan stirred in the corner slightly, but didn't move after that. 

"This is kidnapping." Nozomi mumbled behind his hand as she tried to pry it off of her lips.

"You're stuck. It can be whatever now." Kakuzu kept walking. "Now, shut up." Nozomi glared at him, but since there was nothing she could do, she followed behind him, walking deeper into the forest.


	6. Keep Your Enemy Close, Keep Your Hunter Closer

"Surely you must have had a good reason to come out here..." Nozomi mumbled to herself as she followed Kakuzu around in the forest. She sighed and looked around. It was getting to be sundown and Nozomi was most definitely sure that the forest was not a safe place at night.

Kakuzu, on the other hand, wasn't paying attention to her at all. He kept his senses up as he looked around, trying to spot anything in his radius that moved. There was something watching them and he was going to find out what.

"Will you..." Nozomi started out before Kakuzu covered her mouth again, signalling for her to hush. She pried his hand off of her mouth and glared up at him. Deciding to whisper this time, she stood on her tiptoes and leaned towards his head to where she thought his ears were... if he had ears. The man doesn't listen to a word she says anyway.

"Will you at least tell me why we're out here?"

Kakuzu ignored her and pulled her along. Nozomi, deciding to be stubborn, dug her heels into the hard forest floor, refusing to go anywhere. The male turned back at her with his red and green eyes narrowed. He stepped closer to her and looked down at her.

"Your life is in my hands, runt. I have more hearts than you ever will."

Nozomi looked up at him, trying to match his angered look but her eyes were faltering. She was still scared of him, and everything could back that up. No matter what, she didn't think that was ever going to change.

"I want to go back to the inn and sleep, using the room I paid for to the fullest. I'm not moving anymore."

Kakuzu's gaze softened slightly and almost held some humor. So she wasn't going to move? Using his other arm, he picked up her, slung her other his shoulder, and started walking again. She looked the same as she weighed - like nothing. For a moment, he could barely tell that he was holding something. Maybe it was because he was so used to carrying dead weight.

"Put me down! Put me down and take me ba-" 

Nozomi tried to yell at him as she kicked her feet. Kakuzu, annoyed by her, finally used his stitchings and tied them around her mouth and ankles so she couldn't move. Nozomi, who was quite annoyed as well, continued to hit him with her free hand until that too was restrained.

"Are you done?"

"Mm!" Nozomi glared at him, continuing to squirm until she got tired and her wrist hurt from the movement.

Kakuzu looked around again. He'd heard the rustling sound once more and stood still. Nozomi, who had heard it as well, became still and looked around with fearful eyes. It was finally night time, so it was heard to see through the darkness. Nozomi felt drops hit her cloak so she assumed it was starting to rain.

As Kakuzu stopped looking around, assuming that the ninja had moved away again, a large sound interrupted the silence. The Akatsuki male jumped out of the way as a boy exploded near where he was standing. Nozomi screamed, although it came out in muffles, and squeezed her eyes shut.

Tension in the area was on high as Kakuzu's attention remained focused on the crater in front of his feet. There was no sense of chakra anywhere as the assumed ninja had fled. Kakuzu's eyes narrowed and he looked around again before putting Nozomi down. The crater was too big to jump and there was no telling what was around the area.

Nozomi, who was finally free of bindings, stayed very close to Kakuzu, burying her face in his cloak. Kakuzu looked down at her shaking figure and sighed inwardly as the downpour of rain began and it was quite heavy.

The male started to walk in the opposite direction of the crater with Nozomi walking close to him. There was a cave not too far away that could give them shelter for the night.  
"Make yourself useful and make a fire."

"Ok."

For the first time, Nozomi obeyed what Kakuzu said without any argument or attempt of defiance. She walked back out with him, grabbed some semi-dry twigs and a rock and came back into the cave. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Nozomi finally got a small fire started.

The two sat in silence against the cave wall. Kakuzu looked out at the rain while Nozomi's eyes remained focused on the fire.

"Are you hurt?" Nozomi asked, breaking the silence. Kakuzu didn't respond, as she expected, so carefully moving, Nozomi sat up onto her knees and looked over at Kakuzu. She looked him up and down until seeing his sleeve. It was burned at the ends as she had probably slowed him down a little from the extra weight. Slowly reaching, she pulled up the sleeve to see the stitching coming undone on his arm.

"Leave it alone."

"But your arm..."

"Leave it."

Nozomi, gaining her stubbornness back, frowned. "Your arm will fall off soon. This is sort of my fault, so I should be able to fix this."

Kakuzu looked at her and looked away. Who was he to deny free help? Deeming that as an okay, Nozomi tried to push the big wet sleeve out of the way so she could start working, but it ket falling down.

"Can you take this off?" Nozomi asked as she reached into her pouch and pulled out her emergency sewing kit. "And I'll need your help with this."

Kakuzu simply shrugged one side of his cloak off, knowing that they were going to be here for a while since the rain was coming down so hard. Nozomi threaded the needle and moved over to her work station. Using both of her hands as best as she could, she started to sew Kakuzu's arm back together. The male watched her stitching pattern, which he noticed was very different from his.

"Did you... do these by yourself?" Nozomi asked as she worked. It was a little hard to do so as the light was dim from the fire, but it was doable. 

"Yes."

Nozomi nodded, actually quite astonished by how he could do it. As she worked, she asked him questions and some he answered, most he did not, which was more than what the woman expected.

"Done!" Nozomi smiled at her work as Kakuzu moved his arm a little to make sure it was movable. He nodded and looked outside again. The rain was not stopping at all and looked like it was coming down even harder.

Nozomi put away her sewing kit and looked at his arm. She couldn't help but wonder what other stitches the male had. 

"Can I... see more?"

Kakuzu turned his head and looked at the blond in front of him with her ever so curious blue eyes. This woman must have forgotten who she was around. Was she so familiar with him that she doesn't realize he is a criminal? Well... in her defense, she only knows he's a bounty hunter and she doesn't know anything about him being a criminal. To his luck, she most likely doesn't even know who the hell the Akatsuki are? She's too oblivious for that.

"Stitches?"

"Yeah... Your stitches."

Kakuzu looked at her, trying to interpret what her face was saying. "No."

"Please? I'll tell you my life story if you at least let me see what's behind your mask." Nozomi frowned. "I won't bug you for the rest of the trip. I'll stay out of your way."

"We're bound together. You'd be in my way regardless." Kakuzu rolled his eyes.

Nozomi sighed. "Is this going to require money?"

Kakuzu thought about it for a moment. He could always just add money to her bill. She needs him more than he needs her. "Add ¥1,000,000 and I'll show you."

"That's unreasonable!" Nozomi glared at him. "I'll just take it off myself."

She reached for the mask, only to have Kakuzu grab the wrist of her free hand with his free hand and pin her against the cave wall. Nozomi looked at him, surprised at how quickly he moved.

"Is there a secret behind your mask?"

"There's nothing to see."

Nozomi squirmed a little in his tight grasp. "Then let me see. The curiousity kills me, you know. I've already seen your eyes and those are peculiar enough. You can kill me whenever you want to and I can't do a thing to you. So, before I die, can I see?"

Kakuzu let her go and sat back against the cave wall. Nozomi, who shivered in her wet clothing, pulled her legs to her chest and laid her head on her knees. Sighing, she started to fall asleep. After a few minutes, she was fast asleep with her head leaning against Kakuzu's body. After seeing the female asleep, Kakuzu let her lay against him. He reached up with his free hand and pulled the mask off his face.

All that was there was a stitched up mouth. Why would she be curious of that?


	7. Troubled Thoughts

In the morning, Nozomi woke up and rubbed her eyes. As she looked around at her surroundings, she remembered that she was in a cave all night and it had been raining. As she stood up, she felt a sharp pain in her wrist and everything from the day before hit her like a ton of bricks.

"You're awake." Kakuzu opened one eye, looking up at her. He stood up and brushed his cloak off. As he did so, the only thing on Nozomi's mind was the fact that she spent the night with him alone. The events were on replay inside her head.

Looking up at the male, Nozomi couldn't even seem to make eye contact with him. She'd never had a boyfriend before, not even her first kiss, yet here she was stuck to a man who had pinned her against a wall just a couple of hours ago. She'd even slept with him. Gasping, she quickly looked herself over.

Kakuzu merely watched her go into a full-on panic mode. Inwardly rolling his eyes, he dragged her along through the damp forest and back to the hotel. His partner seemed to have had the time of his life being alone in the hotel room. When the pair returned, the middle of the room had the Jashin symbol big and bold on the floor and the Jashinist himself was planted right in the middle of it, sacrificing himself as his morning routine.

Nozomi still couldn't get used to the sight of him stabbing himself, so she turned away. Her back hurt from the hard rock wall but overall her night's rest wasn't all that bad. Kakuzu made for a really great pillow.

After Hidan was finished, the trio went on their way to leave Yugakure. Nozomi walked quietly next to Kakuzu as Hidan complained about something non-important to her. She sighed as she thought about the decision she was making regarding her father. Throughout the trip, she wasn't really thinking of her father or her brother and they were the whole reason why she was in the predicament to start with.

The trio had been walking for hours until they reached the border between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire. Hidan stopped walking and looked around for a moment, narrowing his eyes. Kakuzu paused too and Nozomi, who was stuck in her thoughts, was yanked back by Kakuzu.

"Ow!" She glared at Kakuzu. A simple look from him made her shut her mouth instantly.

A group of ninjas jumped down and surrounded the trio. Frowning, Nozomi stepped behind Kakuzu as Hidan grumbled about having to do this again. The silver-haired male brought out his scythe and recklessly started swinging it around, fighting the ninjas.

The fight proceeded and Nozomi was dragged around, just like before, while holding onto Kakuzu for dear life. Hidan, who seemed to care less about anyone else, threw his scythe and it nearly cut Nozomi's head off. Kakuzu, who was already highly annoyed at a disturbance in his bounty hunt, picked up the scythe and threw it back with such force that Hidan flew back a couple meters as he caught it.

"These things must have everything to do with this bitch you're carrying." Hidan grumbled. "Should've killed her a long time ago."

"I don't know who any of them are!" Nozomi narrowed her eyes. She pulled out a kunai from the pouch on her side and held it up in case she would have to use it.

The fight carried on as the group of ninja seemed to have multiplied, one after one just jumping out of hiding to replace a fallen comrade. After a while, clapping in the near area caught the attention of everyone in the fight. Kakuzu looked up to see a ninja sitting on a tree branch, clapping his hands together slowly. What irritated Kakuzu the most, more than the fact that another ninja has appeared, was the fact that it was the same masked ninja that made him attached to his client.

"You look well." The masked ninja spoke for the first time. He jumped down from the tree and walked over to Kakuzu. The other ninja around him moved away, bowing in respect before blocking Hidan from getting to Kakuzu and Nozomi.

Kakuzu stared at the ninja with a blank face as he continued walking. However, Nozomi froze in her tracks and watched the ninjas with wide eyes. That voice... she'd heard it before.

The ninja stopped a few feet in front of the two. "I've been waiting. I knew you would leave home and come straight to the trouble. You've saved me the time of having to go back and get you."

"...Hideki?" The woman said the name in shock, trembling.

"Bingo." The ninja took of the mask, revealing her brother's smiling face behind it. Nozomi's eyes welled up with tears as she looked at her older brother staring directly at her.

Hidan crossed him arms. "Well, that's screwed up."

"Why did you do this?" She asked as she held onto Kakuzu to keep her knees from giving way under her. Her brother's expression darkened.

"I did this? You did this to yourself. I merely helped you." Hideki looked between Kakuzu and his sister. "I'm getting Mom back and Father knows how. Next time when I see you, I'll hear Mom's voice."

Hideki put his mask on and disappeared in a flurry of smoke. The other group of ninja surrounding Hidan jumped away and left. As Hidan put away his scythe, Nozomi dropped down to her knees. The tears she shed fell down into the ground as she sobbed.

"I don't want to do this anymore. I'll pay you for the services. Please just take me back."


	8. Father, Father, Tell Me Where Have You Been

For an hour, Nozomi sat on a rock with Kakuzu still by her side on the ground. They were not far from site where the trio was approached by Hideki. Hidan, unsatisfied with what was going on, left the two behind and scoped out the area to see if the ninjas were still around.

Kakuzu sighed and closed his eyes, starting to mediate and possibly think about a new job to do. There were no official orders from the leader to go catch another Jinchuriki so that kept options open for another bounty job. The only problem was that he was still stuck to this girl next to him.

As Kakuzu was stuck in his thoughts, Nozomi was stuck in her own as she started to question her own identity. Was she put on earth to be a vessel for her mother? Did she do something wrong and now the heavens were punishing her? If so, what did she do?

“Maybe I should just die.” She murmured out loud to herself.

“Then I’ll rip the stitches now.” Kakuzu answered back.

Nozomi nearly jumped at the sound of a voice outside her conscience. As she had turned to look, Kakuzu was standing up, nearly hovering over her as she was still shorter than him, even while she was sitting on top of the rock. She stared into his odd eyes, which seemed a little more fierce than usual.

Suddenly, something cool touched her wrist, which nearly made her jump out of her skin. As she looked down, there was a kunai in position to cut her hand off. Eyes growing wide, she tried to move away, but Kakuzu held her steady in place.

“W-What are you doing?!”

Kakuzu continued to look at her, eyes unwavering. “Die now or die later.”

Throughout this mission, Kakuzu had been nothing but cold to her, but his words did have some meaning to her. Maybe she was just a masochist and she liked these kinds of things. Shaking her head, she pushed those thoughts away and looked back at Kakuzu. He was giving her a choice for once - the first time since she had met him.

“I don’t want to die.” Nozomi answered quietly, her voice wavering as tears welled up in her eyes. Kakuzu removed the kunai from her wrist and sat back down beside the rock as she started to cry. He wasn’t one to sympathize, but he wasn’t going to say anything either. Instead, he just let her sit there and cry it out.

Hidan came back at the sound of her voice and looked between Kakuzu and Nozomi. The male seemed to have gone back to meditating, despite all of the noise that the woman was making. Nozomi, on the other hand, looked a mess. She was crying with big red, puffy eyes and a flushed, tear-stained face. The least she could do was cry a little, dare he say, better.

“Shut up already. You’ve been at this for the past hour.” Hidan grumbled. “All this sniffling bullshit needs to stop. Kakuzu, how long are we going to sit here?”

“No one said you had to stay here.” Nozomi retorted, wiping her eyes.

Hidan glared at her. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, you little shit. I’m part of the reason why you’re still alive now.”

Kakuzu stood up quietly while they bickered. Since Nozomi was back to fighting with Hidan, he assumed that she was feeling just fine. “Let’s go.” The two stopped their bickering, still glaring at each like children, and followed Kakuzu. As they walked, Nozomi was sure that they were going in the same direction they had just been in. Why, when she told him that she specifically wanted to go home?

“Um, excuse me… We’re going the wrong way.” Nozomi cleared her throat, looking up at Kakuzu. “Home is the other way.”

“We’re completing the bounty.” Kakuzu answered for her.

Nozomi’s eyes widened and she shook her head, stopping in her tracks immediately. “We can’t do that! Your mission now is to take me home! I said I’d pay you.”

“Look, my man Kakuzu..” Hidan sighed, looking to Nozomi, but she refused to listen to him and ranted on and on about how she was going home. Kakuzu, fed up with her stubbornness, turned and looked at her.

“Only those who work get paid.” Kakuzu spoke up, silencing her. “You requested the bounty. I accepted it and will do as I see fit. This may not be turning out how you see fit, however your private life is of no concern to me. I’m unsatisfied and I won’t stop until I’m satisfied.”

Nozomi looked up at him and frowned, still standing in her spot. Kakuzu, not caring about her reactions anymore, threw Nozomi over his shoulder like she was a dead body and started walking again. The whole situation in itself was weird to him and he wanted to get to the bottom of it - including knowing the jutsu that held him captive to the female on his shoulder..

₪•₪•₪•₪•₪•₪

The trio had been traveling for days and quite frankly, Nozomi was tired of it. She dragged her feet behind Kakuzu as they continued to travel since he’d gotten tired of carrying her and set her down a while back. All she had wanted was to go home and enjoy whatever time she had left of her life. before it would be taken from her. Soon enough, she found herself falling into the back of Kakuzu, then to the ground with a groan and a thud.

“You sensed it too?” Hidan asked Kakuzu as he looked around. Nozomi, not knowing what he was talking about, stood up. Looking around, she noticed something very wrong herself. The forestry around them was dying, or pretty much dead already. The trees were bare and wilting and there was no grass. All life had been sucked out of this place.

Nozomi frowned and stayed close to Kakuzu. “What happened here?”

“We’re close.” Kakuzu started walking again. It didn’t take long for them to find the source of the complete death around them. There was an entrance to a cave and Kakuzu’s eyes narrowed as there was something very wrong here. The cave reeked of chakra and you could definitely see the chakra seeping out as it was eating away at the rock. He hadn’t seen this much chakra since he had hunted the tailed beasts with Hidan, however this chakra felt different from a Jinchuriki’s.

Hidan frowned and placed his hand on his hip. “This looks fucking sketchy.” Instead of feeling wary about the environment around them, he grew excited as he looked to Kakuzu. “My man, if this turns out great, I might take back what I said before about you being a useless money-obsessed mad man.”

Kakuzu wasn’t paying attention to the fanatic behind him. He knew the man was just restless because he hadn’t killed anyone lately. Kakuzu, however, took a more calculating approach. There was too much loose chakra, which meant this was going to be more than he thought. He might have been okay by himself but he still had the girl attached to him.

“This is bad, isn’t it?” Nozomi looked up at Kakuzu. The male didn’t answer her and walked into the cave with Hidan following behind them closely.

Hidan grimaced as a terrible odor consumed them the more they walked into the cave. “What the fuck is that smell?”

Nozomi buried her face into Kakuzu’s arm as they walked to keep herself from throwing up. The stench was nearly unbearable and if she smelled it anymore, she thought she was going to pass out.

Finally, the cave opened up to a huge crater. Kakuzu, Hidan, and Nozomi quickly walked out to the edge of the crater, grateful to get out of the disgusting smell, however what they saw next put the smell on a whole new level. There were thousands of bodies lying in the crater - men, women, and children. The chakra could easily be seen seeping out of the bodies and into a huge ball in the middle of the crater.

“Oh my god..” Nozomi’s eyes widened as she stared at the bodies. Never had she seen so many dead people at once in the same place.

“Just in time I thought I was going to have to come and get you.” A voice called from the other side of the crater. Kakuzu’s eyes narrowed and Hidan grabbed a hold of his scythe as the group made eye contact with Hideki, who was smirking back at them in satisfaction. Another man, who looked like the older version of Hideki, walked up and stood next to him. Nozomi’s eyes widened as she stepped in front of Kakuzu to get a better look at the man. Her eyes burned as they filled with tears.

“Daddy?”


	9. Hell Is Where The Heart Is

The tousled blond hair, once full of life but now a bit dull with grays mixed in. Blue eyes with a grayish tinge to them that looked so focused… on all the wrong things. He had aged since she had last seen him, a bit more frail like he hadn’t eaten since she had last seen him either. “Is it really you, Daddy?”

The man took another step in front of his son, looking at his daughter from the other side of the crater. “Ah, my little princess.” His eyes drifted towards the two men in the cloaks by her. He could spot those cloaks from a mile away and knew exactly what they meant. His daughter had found not one bodyguard, but two. “My name is Touma Shidou, but I suspect you know that already. Thank you for delivering my daughter to me. I’ll double whatever she promised to pay for you to babysit her.”

“So you’re the reason I have to deal with all this shit now.” Hidan cocked his head, reaching behind himself to grab his scythe. “Never thought I’d have a run in with a fucking grave digger.”

Touma merely ignored the male. Another body wouldn’t have a negative effect on the jutsu so he could join the damned. All that mattered was that he met the quota and with the revelations at hand, he could finally finish preparations for the jutsu. “Hideki, retrieve your sister.” Stepping towards the amassed chakra ball, he began to focus and form hand signs to start.

Hideki nodded and with a poof, he transported from the spot by his father to a spot a few feet away from Nozomi and Kakuzu. “Hello sister. Have you finally come to terms?”

Nozomi took a step back from her older brother, inching towards Kakuzu. It had been three years since she’d seen her father and this was how he chose to spend their reunion? She was starting to lose feeling in her legs and the only thing she could hear was her heart being loudly in her chest. 

“I’ll take her off your hands now.” Hideki smirked at Kakuzu. The male didn’t offer him a spoken response, but in turn, pulled Nozomi closer to him. While the offer of double the pay was tempting, there was more in this bounty for him now than just the money. This new jutsu had intrigued him, plus a few spare organs wouldn’t hurt in case he needed them.

“You can have her after I receive the bounty.”

Hideki frowned as Nozomi’s eyes widened and she looked back at the male she had hired. Kakuzu yanked the woman behind him. The blond then smirked and nodded, seeing as the situation wouldn’t have gone any other way, and started to attack first with taijutsu.

“Hold on! I need to pray first!” Hidan grabbed a hold of the chain around his neck and closed his eyes. Once he opened them, there was a crowd of ninja around him. He recognized the group from when they were fighting in Snow Country. Groaning, he took the scythe off his back. “Why the hell do I have to fight with the extras?”

As Hidan began his fight, Kakuzu was well into his. Straying away from taijutsu after what happened last time that resulting in the added weight next to him, he veered towards long range attacks - his favorite being Fire Style: Searing Migraine. Speaking of the added weight, he’d been carrying her around the whole fight and it was nothing but a nuisance. How could he reverse the jutsu without any unnecessary antics?

₪•₪•₪•₪•₪•₪

It felt like it had been almost an hour and she was being tossed around like a ragdoll. That seemed fitting of her role right now. Duck down, Guard. Get yanked. One moment she was in the air and the next moment, she was on the ground. It was all happening so fast, she couldn’t even see it. The moment Hideki would try to reach out to her, Kakuzu would retract back and pull her with him.

“Hideki, please. I know you. You’re better than this.” Nozomi cried as they continued to fight. “This isn’t right!” The battle advanced as if he couldn’t hear her, but she knew he was listening. He always talked about how he loved his little sister so much. “Don’t you remember when Dad left us behind? It was you and me against the world. We would always have each other’s backs. You promised to protect me! Don’t you love me?”

Hideki stopped his movements and glanced at Nozomi, who was standing next to Kakuzu. She stepped forward, tears in her eyes. “It’s always been just the two of us. Are you just going to leave me behind? I’m scared. I don’t want to be alone. Please, brother.”

Suddenly, the ground started to shake and Nozomi screamed, grabbing hold of Kakuzu before she could fall over. The thousands of dead bodies around them started to disintegrate and fuse with the chakra ball. WInds started to blow violently, as if they were standing by a tornado. Kakuzu’s eyes narrowed slightly - the whole setup looked very unstable.

Touma grinned, a wild look in his eyes as he watched the chaos unfold. “It’s ready, Hideki! Finally, we can commence!”

Whatever feelings of remorse he may have felt for those couple of seconds automatically dissipated as Hideki smirked. Ox. Snake. Ram. Once he formed these hand signs, clouds began to fill the crater. Nozomi cowered back as more and more clouds filled the air, making it hard to see anything. She couldn’t locate her brother and he was just a couple feet in front of her. She couldn’t even see the chakra ball anymore.

“Kakuzu-san?” She was nearly shaking and she couldn’t see the bounty hunter, although she was standing right next to him. The male didn’t answer. Further back, she could hear Hidan still fighting with the group of ninja.

“Earth Style: Earth Grudge Fear.”

No sooner had she heard those words, Nozomi was flung to the furthermost point away from Kakuzu, a rope of stitches wrapped around her mouth so her screams of fear were not heard. Once she was leaning against a wall, the stitches retracted and she looked down, only seeing the lower part of Kakuzu’s arm attached to her. The sight alone was enough to almost make her faint out of shock. He could detach his body parts just like that?

The mist started to fade away, but it wasn’t enough for her to see clearly. She could make out two bodies fighting - Kakuzu and Hideki. He had thrown her out of the fight. Between the two fights going on, Nozomi couldn’t figure out what to do. She had to do something! Unbeknownst to her, she was about to do something - the very thing she didn’t want to do.

Her father appeared behind her with a smile. “Are you ready, my dear Mimi?”

Nozomi could barely react as she turned around to see her father’s smug face. His hands were already formulated in a hand sign. “Kakuzu...san…” Her eyes widened as she could feel herself falling back, more like being pulled back into the chakra ball.

The mist was still quite thick as Kakuzu relied on his senses to fight Hideki with one arm. There was something off about his assailant’s attack pattern. It was different from before, almost as if they were moving in a circle. When he heard his name being called, he yanked his arm back as one of the masks ripped off his back and blew a strong gust of wind, the mist disappearing. There was a force pulling against his stitchings. Nozomi cried in pain as she felt like she was going to be ripped in half. That’s when Kakuzu realized it.

While they had been traveling and were stuck together, the stitches were growing inside of her. They were wrapping around her bones, making her almost completely connected to him. If he pulled on her any harder, he was going to kill her by literally ripping her body apart. The jutsu her brother had used was a curse, but there had to be some sort of backlash on him because it continued to work even when he wasn’t around.

Hideki jumped back and looked at Kakuzu. The tanned male was standing in the center of the seal Hideki created by dragging his heels in the earth as they fought in the mist. Everything was finally in place. Using chakra strings, the seal was activated, immobilising Kakuzu. Without the use of his dominant arm, he wouldn’t be able to use any major jutsus. As a hunter-nin, Hideki had studied the Akatsuki, starting with Kisame before making his way through the rest of the known members. He was able to determine strengths and weaknesses. Kakuzu’s weakest point was genjutsu, which Hideki was very skilled in. The mist he created was completely laced with genjutsu, allowing his movements to become visibly undetected until the last possible moment.

“Great job, my son. Now, we shall witness the rise of the phoenix.” Touma shouted with laughter. “Finish off the final step.”

Hideki nodded and pulled out a scroll, perform a hand sign, there was a small puff of smoke, but nothing appeared. He stepped into the circle, walking towards Kakuzu. His seal weakened the earth and any earth style jutsus while the victim was still inside the seal. Touching the stitches coming out of Kakuzu’s right arm, he released his previous jutsu, which freed Nozomi. The female screamed as it felt like her whole body was being mutilated. She watched as yards of stitching were pulled out of her arm and the wound started gushing out blood. There was… so much blood and it just kept coming out.

Hideki then made a fist as if he was holding something and in one swift move, jabbed his fist towards Kakuzu, his hand stopping in front of male’s chest. The male sputtered as the mask fell off his face and blood dripped onto the ground in front of him. A sword began to visualize, going through the male’s chest and directly through his heart. Kakuzu could barely roll his eyes. Of course, a Kiri ninja couldn’t be complete without his sword. The seal began to disappear and Kakuzu fell to the ground face first, limp.

Hidan turned away from his fight just as he finished killing the last ninja and his eyes widened. The money hungry bastard was finally down for the count. The blond brat was actually able to kill him?

The chakra ball began to waver and Nozomi watched in utter shock as she saw Kakuzu go down. “Kakuzu-san!” She screamed as she felt herself being pulling into the chakra. “Please! You have to get up! You have to save me please!” Her cries were silenced as she was completely engulfed by the chakra ball. The ground began to shake again and dark clouds covered the sky as thunder crashed and lighting bolts filled the night sky. Finally, everything went black.

Nozomi could feel herself floating, but she couldn’t tell where or why. Was she dead? Did the jutsu work? “...Where am I?”


	10. Awake (The Finale, Part I)

Silence filled the air as the chakra ball disintegrated along with the thousands of dead bodies filling the crater. The rolling thunder died down and the lightning faded in the sky, however the dark clouds stayed planted in their positions. Nozomi’s body laid limp and face down in the middle of the crater, her short, sandy blond hair sprawled messily around her head. The open wound in her wrist where the stitches had been pulled out was still actively bleeding. Touma looked in the direction of the body, feeling that the jutsu was complete. Now, all he had to do was wait for his wife to get up and greet him how she always did.

Suddenly feeling a pain in his chest, Touma dropped to one knee, grunting as he grabbed at his chest. Hideki immediately stepped away from Kakuzu and jumped to his father’s aid. “Don’t worry about me. Take care of the open wound. We don’t need any complications for your mother’s arrival,” his father ordered. As Hideki moved away, Hidan appeared beside Kakuzu and examined the male. Kakuzu wasn’t dead, was he? Usually he got up by now. The pain in his ass always said it would take more than one time to kill him.

“Where am I?” Nozomi thought to herself. She was floating in a dark abyss. Which way was up and which way was down; she couldn’t seem to figure it out. A bright light abruptly interrupted the darkness and the female groaned as she shielded her eyes with her arms. It felt like she was being sucked in somewhere, much like when she was being sucked into that chakra ball. Was she still in there?

Once she could see again, she was standing on something, but she was in another dark abyss. Little bubbles passed her by and she tilted her head curiously as she held her hand out to grab one of the bubbles. The one she chose showcased herself around age five when she still lived in Konoha. Her father had come home from a mission and she happily ran to the door to greet him with Hideki. Her mother came to their side and hugged her father before ushering everyone to the table so they could eat dinner.

Letting go of the bubble, Nozomi walked around and started looking at other bubbles. So, these were what her memories looked like? She noticed the memory where she was six and Konoha was under attack. Ninjas quickly ran through the village, evacuating civilians. Nozomi was running with her mother when she tripped over a fallen light pole, twisting her ankle in the process. Seeing that the Nine Tails was headed in their direction, her mother scooped her up and kept moving, but they couldn’t outrun the beast. Her mother set her down and pushed her in the direction of a nearby ninja before she was caught in the crossfire and crushed under the Nine Tails’ paw.

Tears flooded her eyes as Nozomi ripped her focus away from the horrid memory. It was her fault; it was all her fault that her family was like this now. The other memories passed her by as she crouched down in defeat. She deserved to die.

“Die now or die later.”

Nozomi’s eyes widened as she quickly looked up. That voice was familiar. “Kakuzu-san?” She found herself staring at a bubble that was floating in front of her. She watched Kakuzu held a kunai to her wrist and she watched herself react in shock and tell him that she didn’t want to die. Other memories of her and Kakuzu passed by her - her initial meeting with the male, her active pursuit of him, and their travels together.

Kakuzu was a very stern male that was driven by goals. He was analytical and headstrong. Although they were stuck together, he didn’t complain and he even protected her - granted it was most likely because she was his client. Wiping at her eyes, she turned her head to see another bubble next to her - one that projected her night in the cave with him. He was kind and gentle with her when she was scared and even answered some of her questions. She had a deep respect and admiration for him as he had qualities she could never attain.

Her memories continued to move forward and she began to realize the severity of her situation, especially the fact that she didn’t know whether she was dead or not, however it seemed as though Kakuzu was. The darkness opened up and all of a sudden, she was on the very battlefield she disappeared from. Kakuzu was laying on the ground and his partner was at his side, whereas her father seemed to be in pain and Hideki was tending to her body. She was… outside her body?

“Kakuzu-san!” She ran over to his body and dropped to her knees. There was a puddle of blood under his body as a sword impaled him through the chest. This wasn’t what she wanted. “Kakuzu-san, please get up!” As she reached out to touch him, her hands went right through him. Shocked, she looked at her hands then down at her body as it registered how transparent she was. Was this what death looked like?

Kakuzu’s fingers twitched as he began to feel his limbs once more. That paralysis genjutsu was a trick he hadn’t anticipated; a very clever one indeed. Had it not been for the trap, he would’ve gotten up a lot sooner as he never lost consciousness. He grunted in pain for a moment as one of the masks on his back shattered, indicating that one of his hearts was no longer functioning. The fact that the little brat managed that much pissed him off, but luckily he could get a replacement heart - a fitting compensation, if he would say so himself.

“Damn Kakuzu, you scared me.” Hidan sighed as the latter male sat up and assessed his wounds, removing the Akatsuki cloak before it could receive anymore damage. Regardless, he was going to have to get a new one after this. “My man, I thought you fucking died.”

The tanned male didn’t respond to him, but rather looked at his opponents. The crater was empty besides he, Hidan, Touma, Hideki, and… the girl. His eyes focused on the limp body that Hideki was sewing up and narrowed at the sight. He had failed at his bounty. The mission was now absolute. After all of his years of living and countless kills, he had grown accustomed to unfortunate events, but for some reason, this one seemed to be the most unsettling. What was this feeling that was building up inside of him?

Nozomi sighed with relief once Kakuzu sat up. Thank goodness he was alright. She wouldn’t have known what to do if he had actually been killed because of her. As he took off his robe, she was shocked at the amount of stitches that decorated his body. She remembered seeing his arm when she helped repair it in the cave, but she hadn’t anticipated that they would be all over his body. Another thing that peaked her interest were the three masks on his back and the shattered one that was on the ground behind him. Just what was he?

“So what are we going to do now?” Hidan continued to squat next to his partner as he glanced over at Touma and Hideki. He’d already made plenty of sacrifices to Jashin with the ninja he killed previously, however the two in front of him would be an amazing special offer to his god, especially after what they’d done to their own blood - after he asked for permission from Lord Jashin, of course. Although the female was quite annoying, she was a change of pace that he enjoyed - partly because she didn’t know who they were and partly because he knew she’d be a temporary annoyance.

Kakuzu stood up, stepping outside of his puddle of blood and frowned. He was tired of entertaining this bounty. Since the mission was absolute, he saw no reason to hold back any longer. His days of vengeance were far behind him, however he would make an exception this time. Anger bubbled inside of him as he looked away from Nozomi and back at Hideki and Touma; she didn’t deserve to die. “We won’t be doing anything. I’ll take care of this. If you get in my way, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

Hidan groaned and sat back on the ground, folding his legs Indian-style and planting his scythe down beside him. Missing out on the bloodshed that was about to go down was such a let down for him, however he would let Kakuzu have his way this time. He’d get back at him later for his anyway.

The look in his eyes changed. In her time with Kakuzu, his eyes were always stoic and unwavering, no matter what they were up against. In a flash, much rather a literal blink of an eye, she could see a painful glare. That pain, however, was quickly replaced with anger and she could only watch as he lunged for Hideki at a swift speed. Her brother, who was too preoccupied with her body, was caught off guard and barely managed to escape as he abandoned her. As she monitored the fight, a bright light caught her attention and she held her hand up to block the rays from blinding her. A bright light had engulfed her body, but it seemed as if no one could see it but her.

“You were supposed to be dead!” Hideki seethed as he engaged in taijutsu with Kakuzu. His opponent didn’t respond and showed no restraint either. Without Nozomi on his side, his body felt lighter. He’d gotten used to her being stuck to his side so the missing weight was evident in his mind. Beforehand, Kakuzu was only fighting him with one hand, however this fight was proving to be more difficult. Seeing that only using taijutsu would result in a losing battle, Hideki jumped back, resorting to use a ninjutsu technique as he formed hand signs. Anticipating that he would try to run away, Kakuzu extended his arm and grabbed the younger male’s leg, slamming him down into the solid rock before he could finish.

Hideki sat up, wiping the blood that was spilling out of his mouth as he was sure that he had broken some ribs during the impact. The rest was short-lived as Kakuzu appeared in front of him and landed a punch on his cheek, causing him to fly into the crater wall with high impact. How could his strength have increased so much from the previous battle? That was impossible! Regaining the use of one arm shouldn’t have widened the gap this much. Was he taking it easy on him earlier?

Pulling himself out of the crater, Hideki narrowed his eyes as he looked at the monster standing a few yards away from him. The stitchings were seeping out of him like tentacles. Behind him, his father was made his way to Nozomi and was yelling at him to finish the man off. Honestly, he didn’t have to remind him to do that. Perhaps it was because he was still alive that his mother hadn’t woken up just yet. He guessed he would just have to complete the ritual for a second time. Forming hand signs once more, he decided to end it all with his next move. Puffing up his cheeks, he took in a deep breath of air before blowing a large blast of water from his mouth at Kakuzu, much like a cannon.

The kid was ambitious, he would give him that. With the mask that gave him control over water chakra nature attacks broken, Kakuzu decided to take the attack head on. He had noticed during their previous encounter that the male used up a considerable amount of chakra with his genjutsu mist technique and the invisible sword, so he was most like putting all of his chakra into this last attack. Kakuzu, on the other hand, hadn’t used up nearly as much chakra. One of his masks ripped off his back and the mouth opened.

“Fire Style: Searing Migraine.”

A large beam of fire erupted from the mask’s mouth, colliding with Hideki’s attack. The two attacks pushed back and forth against each other, causing a huge riff in the air from the immense power flowing from the moves. Hidan watched in silent confidence that his partner would come out victorious in this battle as it was inevitable. Touma urged his son to kill the beast, which pushed Hideki to will himself to push past his limits. His water attack pushed harder against the fire, allowing him to gain an upper hand through sheer force.

“Hmmph.” Kakuzu watched as the male struggled to push through. It was a waste of effort on his part, however he let him do as he pleased since it would only make collecting his heart easier. Letting the power struggle play out, the Akatsuki member finally decided to put the child out of his misery as another mask emerged from his back.

“Wind Release: Pressure Damage.”

Combined with the fire style, defeat was definitive as the overwhelming attack annihilated Hideki’s water style and knocked the male back into the crater, the impact nearly knocking the male unconscious. Kakuzu instantly appeared in front of the male and squatted down in front of him. “Your heart is mine.” As Kakuzu choked the male, Hideki’s eyes widened as Kakuzu’s stitched reached into his body and ripped out his heart. Standing up, the stitchings sucked the new heart into his body and a new mask was formed on his back. Turning around, he eyed his next victim - Touma Shidou, who stared in the male in horror.

Nozomi shook as she witnessed the brutal death of her brother. Her eyes watered, however no tears fell. As much as she tried, she couldn’t seem to cry for her brother. The feelings that manifested inside of her weren’t ones of sorrow, but more like relief. Why was she content with her elder sibling being dead? Was she going crazy? This revelation seemed to put her mind at ease. As she watched Kakuzu focus in on her father, she enjoyed the look of fear that her father presented. It seemed as if the only thing that would make this moment better was if she could kill him herself. The thought nearly scared her as she tried to stop shaking. Was her hatred for the father that strong? Before, she had been so afraid, but now she feared as if she was losing her humanity. Did that matter though? She was accepting her death so she wasn’t human anymore.

The bright light from her body started to dim and Nozomi walked over from where Hidan was to try and get a better look at what was going on. She couldn’t contain her shock once she reached her destination as her body’s fingers started to twitch. Looking at her own fingers, she could tell that she was not connected to her body anymore. Her body started breathing again and a small groan escaped from their lips as they started to sit up. Stepping back out of fear, Nozomi couldn’t contain herself as she couldn’t even recognize the body anymore. Instead of looking at her body, she could only see her mother. The worst part was that her mother was making direct eye contact with her.


	11. Free Now (The Finale, Part II)

Touma smiled with great delight as the body in his arms regained its movement. Finally, he had achieved his life’s goal. After the years of research and searching for the perfect jutsu, he was able to recover what he had lost. Of course, all choices come with consequences, but he felt that losing his daughter was only a minor inconvenience when it came to the resurrection of his wife. It was only fitting anyway, seeing as his daughter was the prime reason for her mother’s death.

“Yumeko?” Touma looked down at the body as he could hear the light breathing. “Honey, please say something.”

The body’s eyes opened and looked at the male sheepishly, as if it had woken up from a long slumber. Recovering its strength, its hand reached up and caressed the male’s cheek softly. “Hello darling.” Sitting up more, the eyesight switched its focus from Touma to Nozomi.

Nozomi nearly tripped over her feet as she stepped back, nearly traumatized. Her mother had actually risen from the grave? She had always thought her father was mentally insane after hearing that he wanted to bring back her mother, but he had actually succeeded. The proof was literally in front of her, staring her down. No sooner had she been stared down, the focus was gone.

“Holy shit.” Hidan leaned for in his seated position. He whistled lowly as he stared in disbelief. In the beginning, he thought this whole ordeal was a suicide mission, but now? Shit, anything was possible. Someone had actually come back to life without the help of his god or the stolen use of organs.

Yumeko stood to her feet, feeling out her new body. How was she here? The last thing she remembered was being in Konoha and pushing her daughter to safety before everything suddenly went dark. Now, she found herself in a huge crater in her husband’s arms, however she didn’t feel like herself. This short, sandy blond hair was nothing like her long, mousy brown locks. Her skin was less aged and she never wore clothes like these - makeshift shorts, t-shirt, and a black cloak? What happened to the yellow sundress she had on when she died? The most noticeable thing that caught her attention was the bandage on her left wrist that was slowly getting soaked with blood. The injury was still aching as well.

“Darling… what did you do?” Yumeko turned to look at Touma. She looked around at the two unfamiliar people in the crater before noticing a limp body by the wall. The woman froze in shock for a moment before taking a step towards the body. No… There was no way… The step morphed into a full out run, however it only took a couple of steps for Yumeko to fall to the ground. She hadn’t gotten used to being in control of a body yet so she still felt weak. Pushing herself up, she tried again. Before she could reach the body, Kakuzu reached over and grabbed the woman’s arm, stopping her in her place.

Yumeko pulled against the male, trying to get out of his grasp. “Let go of me! My son! That’s my son!” She cried, tears rushing to her eyes as she noticed the familiar sandy blond strands on the lifeless body. “Hideki!” Glaring up at the male that held her captive, she began beating on his chest with her free arm. “Unhand me, you brute!”

Touma tried to stand, but the pain in his chest merely intensified, causing him to cry out in agony. “Let my wife go!”

“He’s dead so there’s no point in approaching him.” Kakuzu told the woman, unfazed by her constant beating. “Your husband revived you from the dead with the help of your son, at the cost of your daughter’s life. You’re currently in her body.”

Yumeko’s movements began to slow as she looked up at the male in shock. All the information he told her seemed to fly over her head as the only thing she could register was that her beloved son was now dead. This was all too much. He was lying! That had to be it; that had to be the only solution! Snapping out of her frozen state, she glared at the male. “You’re wrong! My daughter is not dead! She’s standing right over there!” Looking back, she pointed at the area between Touma and Hidan. Everyone turned their heads to see nothing.

“And everyone says that I’m the crazy one.” Hidan brooded as he put his scythe on his back. This whole experience seemed like a mess to him. Ever since he had met Kakuzu, his luck just seemed to keep running out.

Nozomi, however, stared at her mother in awe. She really did notice her when she first woke up. Her other fear was realized too, at that moment. No one could see her. The looks on the males’ faces as they looked in her direction were ones of confusion and questioning. Why did she even hope they could see her?

Touma, finding the strength to stand, looked to his wife with a sad smile. “Yumeko, Nozomi is gone. She sacrificed herself so you could live because it was her fault that you passed away.”

“That’s bullshit.” Hidan called. “You sacrificed her because you blamed her for your wife’s death.” Touma glared at the male as the latter merely shrugged. They could honestly just hurry this along for all he cared. The sooner Kakuzu finished this, the sooner he could begin his ritual and thank Lord Jashin for the feast.

Nozomi frowned as she could see the obvious conflict in her mother’s face. She could feel anger stirring up inside of her. Hidan-san was right. She never wanted to die. Her father did this to her. She could die later. Somehow, she had to find a way out of this. “I’m not dead.” She spoke. Since her mother saw her, maybe she could hear her as well? “I’m not dead! I want my body back!” She yelled at her mother.

Suddenly, Yumeko dropped to her knees as she grabbed her head, yelling in pain. Kakuzu let go of her arm as she started shaking. Something was invading her mind and it felt as if someone was stabbing at her skull with a kunai. Touma tried to rush to his wife’s side, however he could barely move. Looking at his hands, he noticed his body was starting to age at a rapid pace. There was something very wrong going on.

“I-I can’t control myself.” Yumeko grunted through the pain. This pain was nothing like she had ever felt before. Her vision was getting blurry as she tried to will herself to stay in this reality.

Kakuzu looked down at the woman in front of him with no remorse. “Everyone isn’t meant to be immortal. You aren’t supposed to be here.”

Nozomi could feel herself starting to merge back with her body. It was working! She tried to continue envisioning herself back in her body. Just as she told Kakuzu-san before, she didn’t want to die. She wanted to keep living. She could have a second chance at this, so she couldn’t let it slip by.

“Her spirit isn’t stable. The jutsu is becoming undone.” Touma murmured to himself. He pushed himself to appear by his wife, standing as a barrier between himself and Kakuzu. The tall male jumped back, seeing as he didn’t need to encounter a dying situation. Touma glared at the male as he could feel his life energy being sucked out of his body. “You did this.”

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow as the elder male’s anger was centered onto him. He did no such thing. The male was a weak shinobi who clearly could not execute his jutsu properly. The cons outweighed the pros and now, he was suffering the consequences.

Touma, on the other hand, couldn’t let the jutsu fade. He just got his wife back; he couldn’t stand to see her leave him again. Taking out a scroll from his back pouch and unraveling it, he nicked his thumb and brushed a stroke of blood across the seal inside the scroll. Forming a few hand signs, he performed his signature jutsu. “Ninja Art: Ten Thousand Sword Technique.” A big cloud of smoke appeared and once it started to dissipate, thousands of swords pointed towards Kakuzu, a ring of swords surrounding Touma’s body. When he became a Kiri ninja, Touma excelled in sword fighting. At one point, he was considered for promotion into the group known as the Seven Swordsman of the Mist. Old age wasn’t going to hinder his technique. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes as the swords were hurled at him, another fight beginning.

“Mom, please. You have to leave.” Nozomi pleaded with her mother amongst the chaos. She was at the woman’s side as she tried to get back into her body. She had to save Kakuzu. Her father was strong - one of the strongest in the village. She knew this was her father’s most prized technique and she didn’t want anything to happen to Kakuzu, not after all that he’s done for her.

The battlefield started to fade away and soon, it was only her and her mother in the dark abyss. Nozomi stood in front of her mother, looking up at the woman she missed so greatly. She looked the same as when she had passed away sixteen years ago. If she could turn back time, maybe she could’ve watched her step more. Maybe if she hadn’t been such a hindrance, her mother would have still been here today.

“My little Mimi. You’ve grown so much.” Yumeko looked down at her baby girl. Her youngest wasn’t so young anymore - she was now an adult. “I wish I could’ve seen you and Hideki together.”

Nozomi teared up as her mother used the affectionate nickname she gave her such a long time ago. Why did this have to be so bittersweet? “I know. I don’t want to leave you, but I have to help Kakuzu-san.”

“This ‘Kakuzu-san’ seems very dear to you. You must like him a lot.” Yumeko mused, poking at her daughter’s cheeks as they blushed in embarrassment. “I know I’m not supposed to be here. Perhaps I was becoming too greedy because I could see my husband again, but I’ve never been the one to be places where I am not needed.”

Nozomi swatted her mother’s hand away from her cheek before giving the older female a hug. Tears spilled onto her cheeks and soaked her mother’s dress. “I’m so sorry, Mom. This was all my fault.” Nothing about this situation felt right to her. She was the cause of this mess, so she had to be the one to fix it. She felt especially sorry to her mother for getting caught up in all of this as all she wanted was for her to be able to rest in peace. Although Yumeko was hugging her daughter back, Nozomi could feel the pressure of the hug getting lighter and lighter. “No! I’m not ready for you to go yet!”

Yumeko let go of her daughter and smiled as her spirit started fading. “Nozomi, my baby, don’t ever blame this on yourself. If all of this happened again, I would have done the same thing. My love for you is that strong.” She wiped the tears from her daughter’s eyes and smiled as she completed faded away. “I love you, Mimi.”

Hidan watched as the barrage of swords from Touma seemed never-ending. Kakuzu seemed to be having the time of his life out there and here he was, sitting on the sidelines like he was watching a game. This was so fucking boring. Even though Kakuzu said to not get involved, he was beginning to say fuck it as he stood up, reaching for his scythe. He didn’t want to miss out on anymore fun.

Just as Hidan was about to join in on the fun, Touma fell to his knees. The male was overusing his chakra and because of his rapid aging, his body was feeling the effects tenfold. Coughing up blood, Touma didn’t let up on his attacks as he wasn’t finished. Kakuzu was going to pay for what he had done. He was going to get his family back. even if it meant he had to die now.

On the other hand, Kakuzu was merely dodging the swords. There were too many for him to get close to the male, however if he continued to evade them, eventually the male would run out. He determined that he would hold out until then. His attention was more focused on the female behind him, who was no longer cowering in pain, but rather lying limp on the ground once again.

He had more interaction with that girl than he did with any of his partners - aside from Hidan. From their initial interaction until now, she was at his side for the majority of the time. Through the traveling and side adventures, he had grown slightly closer to her. The female was left hand dominant so being stitched to his side was a high inconvenience for her, however she embraced it and tried her best not to get in his way. She inquired about his stitches and past, seeing him as a person before anything else. She even helped to stitch together his wound, even though the patterning of hers was extremely different from his own. Although she was somewhat of a nuisance, he could tolerate her. Now, he felt that his experience with her ended prematurely.

Touma was reaching the last moments of his strength. Some of his swords started dropping out of the air mid-jutsu and he cursed himself mentally. His body was barely skin and bones as he groaned in agony. The jutsu had failed him and now, it was taking his life with it. Amidst his breakdown, Nozomi was regaining conscious. Her eyes blinked open as she noticed the familiar crater environment. Looking down, she raised her hand to her face and wiggled her fingers. It worked! She was back in her body! Turning her head, she saw her father’s back and immediately tried to will herself to get up, but she couldn’t find the strength.

“Let’s just end this now, shall we?” Touma looked at Kakuzu. The swords around him dropped to the ground as he formed a couple of hand signs, the combination unfamiliar to the Akatsuki member. “Water Style: Condensing Prison.” Drawing water out of the air, Touma immobilized the male from his feet first before enclosing him in a box of water that was pulled out from moisture in the air. “I watched you from the beginning. There’s more than one heart in your body, so we should test a new theory then. Let’s kill them all at one time.”

Hidan frowned as he watched Kakuzu become enclosed in a water prison. This wasn’t like anything that he had seen before. Usually water style users had to be around water, but this man could simply pull it out of the air. Now, he was going to have to get involved. Hidan jumped down from where he was and prepared himself to kill the man, lifting his necklace to his lips.

Seeing Hidan begin to approach the scene, Touma smirked. It was too late. He formed a couple more hand signs and stared back at Kakuzu. “Now die!”

Before he could complete his jutsu, more blood sputter out of the male’s mouth as he felt a searing pain in his chest. Looking down, his eyes widened as he saw the end of a blade sticking out of his chest - one of his own swords. Turning his head back, he glanced at the perpetrator, which was his own daughter. Nozomi’s hands were still holding the hilt of the sword as she stared back at her father with angry tears in her eyes. She pushed the blade more though his chest and he doubled over to the ground, the water prison that encased Kakuzu collapsing.

“Y-You’re still alive?” Touma muttered as he started choking on his own blood. Nozomi looked down at him as she shook from the adrenaline rush. Seeing his eyes start to gloss over, she relished in the feeling that she had killed her father. It was unsettling, but at the same time, she was relieved.

Nozomi frowned, her bangs covering her eyes as she stood up. “I hope you burn in hell.” She mumbled to herself as he finally passed away. Tearing her gaze away from the deceased, she ran over to Kakuzu, who was soaked in water as he stood. The sky began to open up and the sun shined through the parted clouds. Finally, the battle was over.

Nozomi looked over the male, making sure that he was alright. Aside from the wound from Hideki’s sword that was somewhat stitched up, there were no other abnormalities. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she was overjoyed. Wrapping her arms around the male’s waist, she buried her head into his chest.

“Thank you, Kakuzu-san.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I would like to thank everyone who read this story and gave it a kudos/reviewed it.
> 
> There is an epilogue after this chapter and a sequel as well named Sutures || Kakuzu, which is also on my account. This story is very special to me, partly because Kakuzu is my favorite Akatsuki member, but also because this is the first story that I have ever completed.
> 
> All constructive criticism is welcome as I try to make my stories as realistic and true to character’s abilities and personalities as I can.
> 
> Thank you again for your support! Words cannot express how much I appreciate it!
> 
> Love, Mira


	12. Epilogue

The sun’s rays peeked out from behind the clouds as a new day had begun. After a calm, summer’s night, the day was proving to follow the same pattern as the clouds began to clear out, only leaving a few lingering puffs of white in the cerulean sky.

“Land ho!” A strong, masculine voice called as the sight of mountains appeared in the distance. A group of the ship’s staff steadily began their procedures for docking, hustling and bustling about as they embraced the crisp, salty sea air and navigated around civilians and shinobi alike.

At the front of the boat stood a young woman with nothing but a small bag hanging off her shoulder. Her sandy, blond hair was tied up in a high bun with her bangs and sides still framing her face. There was a bandage wrapped from her left wrist to her elbow and she silently brushed the tips of her fingers along the length of the bandage as she looked at the upcoming shore in deep thought.

It’s been a couple of months since she’d last seen them. After she had killed her father, she remembered an overview of the events, but the shock of it all rendered her from recalling complete details. Regardless of the things her father and brother had done, she had too much of a guilty conscience to leave their bodies exposed in the crater. Digging their graves, she laid them to rest between the rocks before returning home. She was sure that her accompanists were with her during that time, but once she reached the docks, they were nowhere to be found. Disheartened, she wasn’t even able to properly say goodbye.

When she arrived back in Kirigakure, her home just didn’t feel like home anymore. She had walked into the kitchen first and sat down at the table, looking at the broken plate she had tried to mend the night she found out that her father wanted to reappropriate her body. She sighed softly to herself as she stood up, pushing the somber thoughts out of her head. No matter where she went, however, they only seemed to follow. After all, it was just her now.

Continuing through the house, she closed off her brother’s and father’s rooms before stopping in her own. The remnants of her long hair were still discarded on the ground where she left it. Grabbing a broom, she began to sweep it up. As she cleaned, her eyes drifted towards the scar on her left arm. The indescribable pain she felt when Kakuzu’s stitches were being expelled from her body was now reduced to a dull throb every now and then, however she didn’t mind it. The physical appearance was much more important to her. The gash that took up the better part of her lower left arm was sewn up with a needle and thread after being cleaned. It was the only thing left to remind her of her experience and the new acquaintances she had made.

After a couple weeks of solitude, Nozomi decided that she couldn’t be surrounded by these memories anymore. What she needed was a fresh start and a breath of fresh air. Confident with her decision, she packed a small bag of necessities and sold her home along with whatever was inside. Emptying her savings account and whatever insurance she could get from Hideki’s hunter-nin occupation, she bought a one way ticket for Kumogakure and set off, waving her second home good bye. After all, third time’s the charm, right?

Two months into her stay in the Land of Lightning, she found a simple cottage a little ways from Kumogakure. The goal was to one day live in the civilian district inside the Hidden Village, but she would have to get approval first which meant she would have to travel back to the Mist to retrieve her proof of citizenship documents. This revelation lead her to today, where she was heading back to her new home from Kirigakure after collecting her paperwork..

Once the boat reached the docks, Nozomi stepped off the ship and onto land. A gentle breeze greeted her and she clutched the end of her yellow sundress to prevent it from flying up as she looked up at the stone buildings that seemed to touch the heavens. This time, she could actually go sight-seeing. Chuckling to herself, the woman started on her way as she fixed her bangs. If she retraced her steps, she might even pass by the black market and possibly run into Kakuzu again?

After an hour, she had finally made it home. The time was only approaching noon and it was such a nice day out, so Nozomi placed her bag down and stepped outside, taking in the fresh scenery that was around her. The Land of Lightning was nowhere near as dark and gloomy as her previous home had been, and they even had some lingering wild life amidst the vast masses of stone and sediment. Perhaps a couple of flowers would help brighten up her cozy home.

₪•₪•₪•₪•₪•₪

“Why the hell is it that every time we aren’t doing something Akatsuki-related, we have to take commissions?” A certain silver haired male complained as he walked down the dirt path, agitated. “All I want to do is have some fun, but you’re nothing but a greedy, soul-sucking bastard.” In a split second, Hidan whipped out his scythe, just in time to block a fist that was headed straight for his throat.

The assailant narrowed his eyes, crimson irides staring into violet ones with such volatile hostility. “Once you hurry up and die, you can have all the fun you want.” Standing up straight, Kakuzu didn’t glance back as he resumed walking. “Shut up and stay out of my way.”

Hidan couldn’t refrain from rolling his eyes. “Whatever you want, Kakuzu-chan.” The honorific was highly sarcastic as he put his scythe away and followed after his obnoxious partner. Ever since they had left the border between the Land of Frost and the Land of Hot Water with that brat, Kakuzu had been nothing but irritating him, taking bounty after bounty and basically dragging him along. Now, they were back in the Land of Lightning after they’d just finished helping to seal Shukaku and he had no doubt of where his partner was headed - the black market. “I liked you better when the blond bitch was attached to your side.”

Kakuzu’s eyes narrowed, unbeknownst to the male, but he didn’t respond and his pace didn’t slow. As Hidan grumbled to himself at his rear, he adjusted the sack he was carrying over his shoulder of another successful bounty and trudged along. His mind wandered to the last comment his partner made about the girl. Even after a few months, it felt a bit different as there wasn't any extra dead weight with a mind of its own attached to his arm anymore. After the incident, he and Hidan watched as the girl buried her family and started on her journey back home. Her lifeless body seemed to be on autopilot and she didn’t speak. Being that there was no medical service nearby, Kakuzu helped her bandage her wound until she could receive proper treatment.

There had come a time during the journey back where Kakuzu began to distance himself and Hidan from the woman. They had spent too much time in one place and she had become too attached to them. He also couldn’t deny the fact that he had lowered his guard slightly when he was with her, something he often ridiculed Hidan for. The humanity that he had “discarded” so many years ago was starting to resurge, so he made a choice. By the time Nozomi had reached the docks, he and his partner were long gone.

“-staying?” Hidan’s voice began to cut through his thoughts. Stopping in his tracks, Kakuzu realized that they had arrived at the black market. Hidan crossed his arms and furrowed his brows in disgust for the environment he was in. “Oi, I said how long are we staying this time?”

“Do what you want, but stay close. We don’t know when we’ll get called again. I’ll find you when I’m finished.” With that, Kakuzu walked away and disappeared into the crowd. Hidan sighed in exasperation and headed out into the forest, away from the market. He would never understand his partner’s vile obsession for money. 

After an hour or so of hanging around the area, Hidan grew restless and ventured farther away from the black market. No one in their right mind would dare to come after him, so he figured he could go exploring for a bit. The Land of Lightning was different from his pacifist home country, though it was a bit on the dull side of his taste. Nonetheless, it would have to do for now. Holding his amulet to his lips, he closed his eyes for a moment to pray. Perhaps while Kakuzu was having “fun”, he could have his own version of fun.

Sensing some chakra a couple meters ahead, he grinned. Lord Jashin seemed to working quickly today! Jumping up, he concealed himself between rocks as he was nearing the mountains. There was a small clearing up ahead and he could make out a body. Whoever this was didn’t seem to notice him, so he took the opportunity and leaped out from behind the rocks, his scythe drawn and ready to strike. “I got you now!”

A loud clang sounded as metal came in contact with metal. Hidan’s scythe was apprehended by two kunai, although the sheer force of his attack had knocked his victim onto their back. With his scythe mere centimeters from his prey’s face, he was more than willing to end this all with one blow. His eyes, which held a wild, animalistic intent, scanned over his catch hungrily. A female with pure, untainted skin, yellow dress, sandy blond hair… blue eyes…? He tilted his head for a moment. She looked familiar, like he had seen her before.

The female was shaking as she tried to counter the pressure the scythe was placing on her. It was a lot harder to defend herself when she was laying on her back. This weapon… She knew someone who used it. As she looked at her oppressor through squinted eyes, she began to make out their description. The first shock came to her when she recognized the red clouds adorning their black cloak. Her eyes slowly dragged up her attacker’s frame until she identified the silver hair and violet eyes and her eyes widened significantly.

Hidan jumped back and he leaned forward, narrowing his eyes with aggravation. Sitting up, Nozomi lowered her kunai and pointed a finger at him, stunned. The two simultaneously spoke the only word that seemed to formulate in their minds, each with their own respective emotions. “You!”

₪•₪•₪•₪•₪•₪

Kakuzu left the black market, the funds he collected from the bounty secured safely in his pouch. The last bounty had been alright, but Hidan was really messing with his profits with that overbearing mouth of his and inconvenient attack habits he had. Oh, what he wouldn’t give to be able to kill the man right then and there. He made a mental note to himself to visit Zangei soon so he could get back on the real bounties that were worth hunting.

As he exited the black market, the tall male stood in the space where he had left his rambunctious partner, only to find that he was nowhere to be found. “I know I said to stay close.” He grumbled to himself as he began walking, sensing the surrounding area to see where Hidan could’ve gone. After locating the familiar chakra signature in the northeast direction, Kakuzu set off.

It didn’t take him long to discover the area where Hidan was standing, mostly due to the fact that he could hear a loud string of curses filling the air. There was also a second voice in the mix, but he couldn’t identify it until he got closer.

“What the fuck are you doing here, brat?” Hidan placed one hand on his hip as the other tucked his scythe away behind his back. “And who the hell taught you how to get your ass kicked?”

Nozomi puffed out her cheeks in a pout as she was fumed with anger. She immediately jumped up, brushing the dirt off of her dress. “I could say the same to you! I’m taking classes at a local genin school so I can learn how to protect myself.”

“Protect?” Hidan howled with laughter. The female in front of him clenched her fists as her face blushed with embarrassment. He tried to speak amidst his amusement, but he couldn’t seem to find the breaths as he was laughing so hard. “You call that protection? I almost took your damn head off!”

As Nozomi restrained herself from launching the kunai at Hidan’s throat, Kakuzu stood in the shadows behind the rocks, watching the two’s interaction. The girl seemed to have regained her spirit from the last time he’d seen her. After all the death and destruction she had seen and taken part in, that was a victorious feat.

Looking around, Nozomi disregarded Hidan as a new thought occupied her mind. If he was here, maybe that meant that Kakuzu was nearby too. Her heart began to beat loudly in her chest as she hoped the male would appear as well. She wanted to properly thank him and Hidan for what they had done for her and she saw this as her chance. “Hidan-san?” She spoke up quickly before she could begin to chicken out. “Um, is Kakuzu-san here too?”

Hidan, too preoccupied in the girl’s embarrassment, didn’t even acknowledge her question. “You should’ve seen the look on your face! Your eyes were about to pop out of your head.” He wiped away a stray tear as he tried to stop laughing. “Then you flopped on the ground like a fish out of water- Fuck!”

The silver haired male clutched his head as it throbbed in pain. Beside him was none other than the culprit, whose hand was still raised after the attack. Nozomi’s eyes widened in shock for a moment before a bright smile lit up her face. 

“Kakuzu-san!” She ran up the male and greeted him, happy to be able to meet her savior again. Seeing this as her opportunity, she proceeded with her plan. “Would you two like some tea?”

₪•₪•₪•₪•₪•₪

Arriving at her new home, Nozomi placed the basket of flowers she had been collecting in the center of her kitchen table before heading to the stove to brew a pot of tea. Her small cottage was a simple one-story home with one bedroom, one bathroom, a common area, and a kitchen. She had bought it for a decent price since it was a little ways from the village, however there was a small open market close by that was accessible to her.

Hidan and Kakuzu entered the home after ensuring they weren’t being followed and took seats at the table. Once the tea was finished, Nozomi returned to the table and served her guests tea and macarons. “I hope you don’t mind the sweets. I have yet to go grocery shopping but I picked these up at the market nearby and they’re really good!” Taking a spot at the table, she waited for Kakuzu and Hidan to pick first before indulging herself.

The light conversation at the table was mainly Nozomi speaking about random things, however Kakuzu let her ramble whereas Hidan was on the verge of flipping the table. After a while, the male stood up, saying something along the lines of ‘it’s fucking stuffy in here’ as he headed out the front door. Nozomi watched him make his departure before blushing with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been talking the whole time, haven’t I?” She looked down at her half empty tea cup as she twiddled her thumbs underneath the table. She couldn’t bare to look up and see Kakuzu’s expression, so instead, she reached for her cup and brought it to her lips as her throat began to run dry.

“You seem to be doing better.”

Nozomi paused for a moment before she set her tea cup down. Finally looking at the male sitting across from her, a small smile graced her lips. “I am. I took a big step moving to a new land to start over, but it was worth it.” She unconsciously placed her right hand overtop of the bandage on her left arm. “Without your help, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me. I really appreciate you accepting my bounty request.”

Before the female said anything else, her eyes widened with realization and she immediately got up from the table. Kakuzu watched her curiously as she disappeared into her bedroom. After a couple shuffling noises here and there, she returned with a small brown parcel that was tied together with a small piece of twine in her hands. Nozomi approached Kakuzu with a grateful smile and ushered the envelope in his direction. “This is the payment I owe you for completing the bounty. All 35,000,000 ryo is in there, but you can count it again if you want.”

Kakuzu stared at the parcel in front of him for a moment before looking up at the innocent smile on Nozomi’s face. After all that the girl had been through, how could she still possess a smile like that? Not looking away from the female, he gave her a simple reply. “No.”

The smile disappeared from Nozomi’s face and it was replaced by a look of confusion. No? “This is the payment you requested, am I right? Did I get the amount wrong?”

“Only those who work should get paid.” Kakuzu stated as he stood up from the table. “I didn’t kill the bounty; you did. Therefore, the money is yours.” He could still sense that Hidan was nearby, which was good. They would need to take their leave soon.

Dejected as he stood up, knowing that signalled that he would be leaving soon, she frowned. Gripping the parcel in her hands slightly, she stepped closer to him. “Then take it as the reward for killing Hideki. I didn’t realize that he would be in on the plan, so taking care of him was a job well done.” She thrust the package out to him again and took a hold of his hand, making sure that he gained possession of it.

Seeing as she wouldn’t take no for an answer, Kakuzu accepted the money on her behalf and slipped it inside his cloak for safe keeping. He looked down and saw her smile once more as she stared back at him. There was something in her eyes - a look of mischievousness?

Her next move took the older male by surprise. Pushing herself onto her tiptoes, the female latched herself onto him by wrapping her arms around his neck as best as she could. Why was she so close? What aspect of him screamed inviting to her or allowed her to believe that she could do something like this?

“Thank you, Kakuzu-san. For everything.” She whispered to him.

Instead of recoiling back or prying the female off of him, Kakuzu stood still. He didn’t reciprocate, but rather let her hang onto him. In the silence that he didn’t mind, he relaxed for a moment in her hold. So this was what it felt to be human again. How dangerous.

The moment was ruined by a familiar feeling he got from the ring on his finger. His leader was calling him. Hidan erupted through the door and Nozomi immediately jumped off of Kakuzu, turning her head to hide her red face as she absentmindedly fixed her dress. The silver haired male looked between Kakuzu and Nozomi for a moment with a knowing smirk on his face, however the expression disappeared quickly when he made eye contact with his partner.

“We’ll be taking our leave now.” Kakuzu told Nozomi as he headed for the door after Hidan disappeared. 

Nozomi snapped her head towards the door to look at him and immediately followed, her heart dropping to her stomach as a frown formed on her face. “Already? But… but you just got here! You can’t leave so soon!” She clutched the end of her dress in her fists as her eyes flooded with tears. She didn’t want to be alone again. Why was it that when she finally got the chance to see him again, it was just going to end in his disappearance? Somehow finding her voice again after getting choked up, she let go of her dress and grabbed the end of Kakuzu’s cloak. “W-Will I ever see you again?”

Kakuzu paused and turned around to look at the female and her tear-stained face. For her sake, he hoped that she would stay safe. That she wouldn’t get involved with the black market anymore. That she could live out the rest of her life in peace. And that she would never have the chance of meeting him again. She still didn’t know who he was or who he was affiliated with, and she didn’t need to know, or she would be at risk. She got lucky this time around, however if the wrong person found out that she knew of him or Hidan, she would be dead in a matter of seconds.

“If you’re prepared, there won’t be any sorrow.” He looked down at her. Nozomi’s eyes widened as she realized what he was saying and she let go of his cloak. Before she could respond, Hidan and Kakuzu disappeared before her eyes.

₪•₪•₪•₪•₪•₪

Back at the Akatsuki hideout, Kakuzu dropped off the body of Yugito Nii and retreated to the treasury room. Once the rest of the organization was contacted or gathered, they would begin the sealing process. Until then, he was free to do as he pleased while he waited.

Kakuzu took his seat behind an old, stone clad desk and took out the money he had collected from his bounties. After organizing the first couple amounts and recording them, he filed the money away before looking back at the desk. A small parcel wrapped in twine was all that was left - his personal bounty. Taking a seat behind the desk once more, he unwrapped the neat package and emptied its contents.

“Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred…” The male murmured to himself as he put together another stack. The girl was correct. All 35,000,000 ryo was there and accounted for. Once he organized the money by the type of bill, a discarded slip of paper sticking out of the empty envelope caught his attention. The paper was slightly torn at the edges from when he opened the parcel, but overall it was in good condition. Identifying it as a note, he unfolded the sheet and began to read.

Dear Kakuzu-san,

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve seen you and Hidan-san. I’m writing this note because I’m not sure when you will come to collect the reward for the bounty, nor am I sure what I will say to you when (or if) you do. I will forever be in your debt for saving me from my fate. Words cannot express how thankful I am to you, but that’s not the only reason why I’m writing this.

I wish I could be more like you. Being stuck to you taught me a lot about being more confident in myself and to be assertive when going after what I want. The stitches on my arm will always be a constant reminder of that and of you. I don’t know when I’ll be able to see you again, or if I will be able to see you again, however I didn’t want to leave my feelings in a stalemate. I hope I’m able to tell you this in person one day.

I like you and I hope you’re doing well.

Sincerely,  
Nozomi Shidou

Kakuzu skimmed the message a couple more times after reading it all the way through. Her feelings were going to get her killed. What a fool. Still, as he thought this, his mask hid the slight smile that slithered onto his face.

“Oi, Kakuzu.” Hidan poked his head in the door. “After this sealing crap, let’s go after those Konoha bastards. I need a good massacre and those little shits are getting on my nerves.”

The tanned male looked up from the note and stood up from his desk, folding the paper and slipping it into his pocket. Usually he didn’t condone his partner’s behavior, however this request, he could agree on. Silently, he left the treasury room and closed the door as everyone was probably gathered for the sealing by now. Hidan, taking his partner’s silence as confirmation, grinned and followed after him.

“What was on the paper?” Hidan asked as he fell in step with his partner in the dimly lit corridor, his arms resting behind his head. “A love letter?” The male teased knowingly.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes as he fondled the paper between his fingers in his pocket. “A fool’s confession.”

Hopefully that fool lived her life and stayed out of trouble. Maybe that stitch she mentioned would remind her of that too.


End file.
